]2 Geological setting

2.1 Rock m a s s e s
Rock masses are the natural structures that will host rock engineering
projects. A road m a y pass through a rock cutting with rock slopes on
each side; the foundations of a d a m m a y rest on a rock mass; a tunnel or
cavern can be completely contained within a rock mass; a borehole can
be drilled several kilometres into the earth's crust; an u n d e r g r o u n d mine
can involve the excavation of large volumes of ore; a repository might
be excavated u n d e r g r o u n d for disposing of large volumes of radioactive
waste.
In Figs. 1-6, we give examples of engineering projects where the
geological features play a significant role in the overall stability and
success of the project. In Fig. 2.1, there is an example of one of the cave

,, ~i!iiiiii~iii ~ !i~i~ • • iii~iii~iii~ii~!i~ii~ii~!i~i~iiiiiiiiiiii~i~i~!!~i~iiii~!i~ili

Figure 2.1 9th century monolithic Buddhist temples excavated in the Deccan basalts in
India.
14 Geological setting

(a)
 Rock masses 15

temples at the World Heritage site at Ellora in SW India. This temple

has been created in the Deccan Traps by simple hand excavation of the
volcanic basalt. The pillars that can be seen at the entrance are part
of the in situ rock mass. Above the temple, natural rock fractures I are
visible; such fractures are encountered in almost all rock masses and can
lead to instability of engineered structures. Most of these temples have,
however, remained stable well beyond a civil engineering design life of
120 years, the figure that we often use today for design purposes.
In Fig. 2.2, a road has been severely damaged by the sliding of a large
block of rock on which the road had been built (to the right of the upper
picture). The rock block was able to slide because there was a large-scale
natural weakness, a shear zone, in the limestone formation as shown in
the lower picture. The coefficient of friction on the limestone bedding
planes was low because they were clay-filled, and this enabled the
limestone block to slide and damage the road. For all rock engineering
projects, it is crucial to be able to locate such significant geological
features.
Fig. 2.3 shows two slopes. In Fig. 2.3a, a pre-split rock slope at the
side of the A82 road in Scotland is shown. The pre-splitting technique
is a rock-blasting process whereby the final rock slope is created as a
fracture plane first by blasting in a row of parallel blastholes, with the
rock subsequently being excavated up to this fracture plane. The fact
that the blasting has been successful is evidenced by the visible traces of
the half boreholes left on the rock surface as the whitish parallel lines.
However, the rock already contained fractures formed long ago w h e n
the rock was subjected to high stresses caused by tectonic activity. Because
the fractures were formed as a result of the applied stresses, they tend to
occur in sets of sub-parallel fractures with specific orientations. The sets
of fractures can occur at several orientations because there were different
phases of tectonic activity during the history of the rock mass. In Fig. 2.3a,
two fractures from different sets have formed a rock wedge which has
slid out of the excavation (and was removed during slope construction).
The engineer standing on the top of the slope indicates the scale.
These natural fractures are an inherent feature of rock masses. En-
gineers cannot specify that the rock mass should be unfractured: the
properties of the rock mass have to be established by site investigation
and the design adjusted accordingly.
In the case of this road, the location of the road and hence the slope
were determined by the overall topographic features, and there was little

1During the development of rock mechanics, the word 'discontinuity' was used to
denote natural faults, joints, fissures, etc., because they are discontinuities in the rock
continuum. The word 'fracture' was previously used mainly to denote man-made discon-
tinuities. Nowadays, and especially in the USA, the word 'fracture' is used in place of
'discontinuity'. We have adopted this usage in this book.

Figure 2.2 Road instability in Spain. The displacement of the road, shown in the top
photograph (a), was caused by movement of a large limestone block released by the
shear zone, in the lower photograph (b), with sliding on clay-filled bedding planes. Note
the engineer standing on the lip of the shear zone, in the black square.
16 Geological setting

(a)
i

\ ~<~
.......!IXL<~"
/

,%?ii:i:i

(b)
imb~
~ , , ~ - ~ . . . . . . . . . . . .......... . • -.~. : . . ..

. . . . . . • ....... '::~::...... ~:.......... ',.iiii~ ......... i~!i~!~i~:~:~,~'~'~,~~!~i~!~ii~i~i~i~~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Figure 2.3 Rock slopes: (a) at the A82 roadside near Loch Lomond in Scotland; (b)
forming one side of the New Celebration open-pit gold mine in Western Australia.

opportunity to alter the location of the road to suit the rock engineering.
Similarly, in mining engineering, the purpose of the mine is to extract
the ore, which is in a specific location. The slopes in the gold mine in
Fig. 2.3b are determined by the orebody geometry and economics. The
large scale of this operation can be seen by the vehicles on the lowest
level.
The type of failure on the roadside rock face shown in Fig. 2.3a, where
instability was caused by pre-existing fractures forming a rock wedge,
can also occur on a large scale, as illustrated in Fig. 2.4. In this case,
 Rock masses 17

~I~.

Figure 2.4 Initiation and propagation of a large wedge failure in an open-pit mine,
Western Australia.

two major shear zones and the open-pit mine wall have formed a rock
block which has slid downwards. The traces of dust in Fig. 2.4a and the
clouds of dust in Fig.~2.4b were not caused by blasting: the unstable rock
block slid down under its own weight, and the dust was generated by
the rock surfaces sliding over one another and escaping through rock
fractures.
Natural fractures in the rock mass, especially joints and faults, can
also cause instabilities underground. Some large unsupported caverns
may be stable, as in the cavern shown in Fig. 2.5, but often the rock
18 Geological setting

Figure 2.5 Construction of the underground facilities at the Alto Lindoso hydro-electric
project in Portugal.

structure needs to be stabilized by engineered reinforcement or sup-

port.
In Fig. 2.6, the desert location of a potential repository for high-level
radioactive waste is shown. Here, the purpose is waste isolation for
long periods and there are m a n y aspects of geology, hydrogeology,
engineering and biospherics to consider. Again, it is the features of the
rock mass resulting from its geological history that dominate the design,
e.g. the presence of rock fractures, the permeability of the fracture array,
and the age of the water currently in the rock mass.
The rock engineering projects that have been described are widely
different in their locations and purposes but, whatever the purpose of
the project, the rock mass is the host structure. Unlike other materials

Figure 2.6 View southwest towards Death Valley from the top of Yucca Mountain in
Nevada, USA, the site of a potential radioactive waste repository in a dry region. Note
Amargosa Desert to the left of the picture, and the volcanic craters in Crater Flats at the
middle right.
 Questions and answers: geological setting 19

used in engineering, such as steel, concrete and polymers, we cannot

specify the material properties beforehand" the rock is already there
and we have to find out what its properties are. We are interested in
the stiffness and strength of the intact rock and mechanical weaknesses
in the rock mass, such as bedding planes, faults, joints, and fissures,
generically termed 'fractures' or 'discontinuities'. For rock mechanics
analysis, we also need to know the natural stress state that is in the rock
before engineering begins. This stress state is determined by gravity,
tectonic forces operating and several other factors. So, for all these
reasons and depending on the project, it is helpful, if not essential, to
have a good understanding of the geological history of a site, especially
the structural geology.
The subject of this chapter is explained further in Chapter 2 of ERM 12.
The introduction here in this section is intended as an aide-memoire to the
subject before the questions and answers in the next section. This applies
similarly to all subsequent chapters.

2.2 Questions and answers: geological setting

Q2.1 The picture below shows a limestone slope above a highway in
Spain. Comment briefly on the geological factors that could influence
rock slope stability at this location.
..........iiiii!iiiiiiii!i!iii!ii!
!~ili!ii~iiiii~iiii:i:

A2.1 The rock strata are folded and there is evidence of opening of
the bedding planes. Generally, in limestones there will be two sets of
joints perpendicular to each other and to the bedding planes. Thus, it is

2 Throughout the text, we will refer to our earlier companion book 'Engineering Rock
Mechanics: An Introduction to the Principles' as ERM 1.
20 Geological setting

possible that rock blocks could be formed and these might be unstable
because of the steepness of the slope. Also, the folding is variable along
the slope, meaning that some regions of the slope will be potentially
more unstable than other regions. Such limestone masses are likely to
contain shear zones, so the rock should be studied in order to anticipate
problems of major instabilities such as that illustrated in Fig. 2.4.

Q2.2 The picture below shows the surface of a fault in a hard rock
aggregate quarry on which a rock slide has occurred. Explain (a)
why the existence of this fault could indicate that other similar
features will be encountered as quarrying continues, and (b) why
encountering an adverse geological feature such as this is likely to
be less significant in a quarry than in a road cutting.

i,:,~,i!ii~. ! ,~~ii

!~!iiii~il:~¸~!~

...................~.~,~
. . . . .

A2.2 (a) Faults and shear zones are caused by rock stresses: the presence
of one fault is an indicator that others may be present in the same region
where the mechanical conditions have been similar. (b) Unlike the rock
 Questions and answers: geological setting 21

slopes in a road cutting, the working rock slopes in a quarry are not
permanent. So long as the fault does not affect excavation too much, the
associated instability is acceptable.

Q2.3 The picture below shows tooth marks from the bucket of a
mechanical excavator in the Carboniferous rocks of a near-surface
slope in an opencast coal mine. What evidence is there here of
geological disruption to the rock strata?

A2.3 The excavator tooth marks show that the rock is soft, but a much
more important aspect is the evidence of glacial deformation. Note
the irregular marker bands passing across the slope and below the
hammer head. Such irregular near-surface strata are evidence of glacial
perturbations and the possibility of slope instability problems.

Q2.4 A site investigation was conducted in a granitic rock mass

(see picture on next page). One side of fracture # 3 0 0 in the core is
shown. What does this fracture indicate about the rock mass history
and what significance does this have for rock mechanics design of
slopes and tunnels in the rock mass?

A2.4 The alteration ring around the fracture (the thin and lighter zone at
the base of the fracture in the photograph) indicates that some alteration
has occurred because of circulating water or other fluids. The texture
on the fracture, running from top left to bottom right, represents a
'slickensided' surface which occurs when the rock surfaces have moved
over one another. Thus, fluid has travelled through this fracture and
there has been shear movement on the fracture. These features indicate
a connected rock fracture system in which the rock blocks have been
22 Geologicalsetting

•i •.........~,~,~,~:~i~!ii~•~',~, ~•~:~:
,~',~,i~,,!~,i~i~i!~i!~ii!i!!i~~:!i,~!ii!~!~!~!,
i!iii!iiiiii!!iiiiiiiiiiiiii!iii!iiii!!ii!i
~ii~~!i~,!~' ii !i !i!iiiii
i~i !!!

....... ~i!iii~!i!~!!i~i~
: ....

,~i%iiiii!!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~!!i!!~iii~!i~'
. i~!i~/

:~i;ii~!i~i~!!~ii~!ii~:!;!!~i:~:~i~!~!ii~!~!;~i~i~;~!~!~;~i~i~;~;~!!~!:~!~;~i~i~i~!~ii
...................................................

!=::

moved about. Thus, the rock blocks couldbe well developed and hence
more likely to be unstable.

Q2.5 In the first Glossop Lecture 3 on geology for engineers, Fookes

(1997) quotes from Glossop's 1968 Rankine Lecture: "What you
look for should be suggested by the natural environment and by
the nature of the construction problem to be solved." Explain why
this quotation is critically important for rock mechanics and rock
engineering.

A 2 . 5 We have explained that engineering rock mechanics can be studied

generically but, when there is a specific engineering project to consider,
we need to establish the engineering objective. Then, the engineering
structure located on or in the rock mass is tailored directly to the
engineering objective. So the quotation refers to the fact that different

3Fookes P. G. (1997) Geology for Engineers: the geological model, prediction and
performance. Q. J. Eng. Geol., 30, 293-424.
 Questions and answers: geological setting 23

geological environments will have different characteristics and we can

anticipate many of the features present. Also, certain factors will be
critical for certain engineering projects. For example, for studies of
storing pressurized gas in an unlined cavern, we are critically concerned
with potential gas leakage via natural fractures in the rock mass.
There are two immediate corollaries:
(a) there can be no standardized geological information for different
engineering projects, because there will be different emphases on
different rock properties depending on the engineering objectives, a
subject we cover in Chapters 11 and 12;
(b) it is important to consider the interaction between the rock mass and
the engineering structure, a subject we cover in Chapter 14.
Emphasis is placed on these points in the definition of engineering
geology (based on the Association of Engineering Geologists 1969 defin-
ition) given in the Glossary of Geology4: "The application of geologic
data, techniques, and principles to the study of naturally occurring rock
and soil materials or groundwater for the purpose of assuring that
geologic factors affecting the location, planning, design, construction,
operation, and maintenance of engineering structures, and the develop-
ment of groundwater resources are properly recognized and adequately
interpreted, utilized, and presented for use in engineering practice."

Q2.6 The quotation at the beginning of the Glossary of Geology 4 is

that: "It is not really a mark of distinction for a geologist's writing
to be so obscure that a glossary is required for its comprehension."
Discuss this in the context of engineering rock mechanics.

A2.6 The authors agree with the general sentiment in this quotation,
especially when the geological information is being supplied for en-
gineering purposes. It is important that the reader with an engineering
background can understand the content and will interpret the text with
the same meaning as the writer having the geological background. At
the same time, it is necessary to have a glossary so that all the technical
words are defined.

Q2.7 When considering the geological setting for a rock engineer-

ing project, would an engineer expect information relating to all
potential geological hazards to be available?

A2.7 Yes, nowadays the engineer should ensure that such information
is made available. In the same paper 3 as referenced in Q2.5, Fookes
explains that:

"Sometimes you hear something said like, 'rocks and soils

were not made to a BS [British Standard]'. I interpret this as
meaning that every rock and soil is different and cannot be

4 Bates R. L. and Jackson J. A. (eds) (1980) Glossary of Geology. American Geological

Institute, USA, 749pp.
24 Geological setting

relied upon. I also believed this to be the case and subscribed

strongly to this view for many years. However, I have come
to believe that by and large they are made, not to a man-
made British Standard, but to Nature's equivalent to a BS
which follows rules of physics, chemistry, biology, mathem-
atics, engineering and so on. Further, I believe that in the
context of site investigation and in the understanding of
the site, application of geological education and experience
should be able to make a moderately close approximation
of the actual geological conditions from the desk study and
that when this is supplemented by ground and laboratory
investigation, there should be, ideally, nothing that has not
been discovered ... it should be a realistic goal to be able
to make a very close approximation to the actual site condi-
tions, particularly if you know what you are looking for and
what questions to ask".
Thus, from a knowledge of the geological and engineering rock mech-
anics principles, we ought to be able to predict what we will find
underground and what will happen when the rock engineering takes
place. The authors agree with this: there should be no 'unexpected' fail-
ures. Against such engineering rationality are examples like the saying
in the tunnelling industry that 'the history of tunnelling is the history of
the unexpected'. Indeed, all sorts of problems are experienced in tunnels,
as Whittaker and Frith (1990)5 have illustrated.
We can say for sure, however, that taking the advice of good en-
gineering and structural geologists and implementing the principles
of engineering rock mechanics will certainly reduce the likelihood of
'unexpected events' occurring during rock engineering.

Q2.8 In an article on geological and geotechnical investigations for

tunnelling, Parker (1996) 6 estimates that "even comprehensive ex-
ploration programs recover a relatively miniscule drill core volume,
less than 0.0005% of the excavated volume of the tunnel". Do you
think that sampling only this proportion of the rock mass is enough?

A 2 . 8 The 0.0005% sampling level is equivalent to one vertical 100 m m

diameter borehole for every 100 m length along a 5 m diameter tunnel
and, if we did not have other information to guide us, such a sampling
proportion would certainly not be enough.
However, the reason for highlighting the sampling percentage is
that (given we have supplementary information from regional geology,
outcrops, previous engineering, etc., and hence some form of geological
model already established) such spot sampling can often be enough,
but only because the core provides the method for refining an existing

5Whittaker B. N. and Frith R. C. (1990) Tunnelling: Design, Stability and Construction.

Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, 460pp.
6Parker H. W. (1996) Geotechnical Investigations, in Tunnel Engineering Handbook (J. O.
Bickel, T. R. Kuesel and E. H. King, eds). Chapman and Hall, New York, 544pp.
 Questions and answers: geological setting 25

model which is based on the geological and engineering rock mechanics

principles.

Q2.9 A cavern (165 m long, 22 m wide and 15 m high) is to be ex-

cavated in chalk strata beneath the sea. The crown of the cavern will
be 35 m below the seabed. What is the main geological information
you would like to have before proceeding with the excavation?

A2.9 The main danger is that water from the sea will enter the cav-
ern. Hence, much of the geological information should be directed to
establishing whether water inflow will be a problem. In a chalk rock
mass, the water will mainly travel through weathered chalk and the
pre-existing fractures, so information on the degree of weathering and
on the fractures and their characteristics is crucial.
This question was stimulated by the construction of the sub-sea cross-
over cavern on the UK side of the England-France Channel Tunnel. To
paraphrase Warren and Varley (1995)7: "In this area there is a normal
geological succession dipping gently northwards and affected by minor
faulting. The cavern is located within carbonate clayey mudstones form-
ing the lowermost part of the Cenomanian succession, namely lower
and basal chalk, the more sandy glauconitic marl and a clay-dominant
material 7 m thick of carbonate mudstone at the top of the Gault clay.
Weathering at the seabed penetrates down through the overlying grey
chalk and into the upper chalk marl strata to within 20 m of the roof.
Formation mass permeabilities are generally low, i.e. 10 -7 to 10 -l° m/s,
although higher permeabilities do exist in the glauconitic marl (owing
to the presence of open joints) and in the upper chalk marl immedi-
ately above the cavern crown. The rock mass quality was fair to good
with sub-horizontal and sub-vertical joints spaced at 1/m and greater
than 2/m, respectively (average persistence 2 m). A number of minor
faults were present, usually of an arcuate nature with downthrows less
than 0.5 m and striking 40 ° to 220 ° parallel to one of the major joint
directions."
Given this geological information, we might expect the engineering of
the cavern to be difficult. In fact, few problems were encountered during
construction. Water entering the cavern through fractures was limited to
minor seepage with a m a x i m u m local inflow of 5 1/min at the crown,
and a cavern inflow of 50 1/min.

Q2.10 The pre-existing stress state in a rock mass is caused by geo-

logical processes and is often a critical factor for rock engineering.
Why do you think that quantifying the rock stress is important?

A2. I 0 Quantifying the rock stress is important because the pre-existing

stress, concentrated around an excavation, can reach the rock strength
and hence cause rock failure. We will be explaining in the next chapter

7Warren C. and Varley P. (1995) Geology, in Engineering the Channel Tunnel (C. J.
Kirkland, ed). E and F N Spon, Chapman and Hall, London, p. 334.
26 Geological setting

that stress is a tensor quantity and six independent components are

required to characterize the stress state. As an example, if the m a x i m u m
stress component is horizontal, a simple and early design step in w e a k
rock is to orientate tunnels so that they are parallel to this m a x i m u m
stress component. This reduces the stress concentrations, a concept
which has been used to great advantage in coal mining in the USA 8 and
China 9.

2.3 Additional points

It is useful to read through engineering geology and structural geology
textbooks and to become aware of the techniques used in these sub-
jects. A good book in this context is Price and Cosgrove (1990) 10 which
presents a "unified approach to the mechanistic analysis of geological
structures". In the Preface to their book, the authors state that "... em-
phasis is placed on mechanical principles and the w a y in which they
can be used to interpret and understand how and w h y a wide variety of
geological structures develop."
Thus, rock mechanics and structural geology are inextricably linked.
Whether the rock mass is disturbed by nature or by man, the rock
mechanics mechanisms are similar in geology and engineering; they just
differ in their emphases because of the different volume and time scales.
Our emphasis in the engineering context is on the advantages of under-
standing the geometrical and mechanical features of rock masses which
is further emphasized if one imagines slopes and tunnels constructed in
the m a n y rock masses illustrated in the Price and Cosgrove book.

8Su D. W. H. and Hasenfus G. J. (1995) Regional Horizontal Stress and Its Effect
on Longwall Mining in the Northern Appalachian Coal Field. Proceedings of the 14th
International Conference on Ground Control in Mining (S. S. Peng, ed.) West Virginia
University, Morgantown, pp. 39-43.
9Wang Tongliang and Fan Qiuyan (1999) Optimization of Soft Rock Engineering with
Particular Reference to Coal Mining. Int. J. Rock Mech., Min. Sci., Rock Mechanics in China
Special Issue.
1°Price N. J. and Cosgrove J. W. (1990) Analysis of Geological Structures. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 502pp.